Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts forces out DJ LeMahieu of the Yankees and throws to first to complete a double play Saturday night in Boston’s 4-1 win at Fenway Park. Michael Dwyer/Associated Press
BOSTON — Nathan Eovaldi pitched neatly into the eighth inning, Adam Ottavino escaped a pair of late jams and the Boston Red Sox held off the New York Yankees 4-2 on Saturday night, improving to 5-0 this season against their longtime rivals.
It was a bounce-back night for Eovaldi (8-4), who was coming off his shortest outing of 2021 in which he last just four innings at Kansas City.
He was more composed at Fenway Park, keeping his fastball in the high 90s while allowing one run and seven hits, issuing no walks and striking out six over 7 2/3 innings.
Eovaldi exited after DJ LeMahieu’s homer made it 4-1 in the eighth. After Hirokazu Sawamura issued three walks to load the bases with two outs, Ottavino got Luke Voit to ground out to end the threat.
Ottavino made his own trouble in the ninth, and LeMahieu hit an RBI single with two outs. But with two on, Ottavino struck out Aaron Judge for his fifth save.
Jordan Montgomery (3-2) took the loss, allowing three runs and eight hits, walking two and striking out five.
Trailing 3-0, New York had a chance to tie the game in the sixth when LeMahieu and Judge reached on back-to-back singles with one out. The inning ended when Gary Sánchez grounded into a 5-4-3 double play.
The Yankees had a runner on with two outs the seventh when Gleyber Torres hit a line drive to center field. But the ball had just enough air underneath it for Kiké Hernández to run it down on the warning track.
Boston loaded the bases with no outs in the second inning and took a 1-0 lead on Hernández’s sacrifice fly.
Two pitches later, Voit got spun around hauling in Bobby Dalbec’s popup in foul territory, allowing Rafael Devers to tag and score.
The Yankees appeared to get out of the third inning unscathed, following a two-out double by Xander Bogaerts, when Devers was called out on a close play at first.
But Red Sox Manager Alex Cora challenged, and the call was overturned. Hunter Renfroe then legged out an infield single, allowing Bogaerts to cross home plate and make it 3-0.
Renfroe and Bogaerts each had three hits.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees: Left-handers Zach Britton (hamstring) and Wandy Peralta (back) were both added to the 10-day injured list. Right-handers Albert Abreu and Brooks Kriske were called up from Triple-A. It’s the latest injury issue for Britton, who recently returned after missing the first 63 games of the season following elbow surgery. But Manager Aaron Boone said they don’t believe this injury will keep him sidelined for long, based on the early assessment.
Red Sox: Left-hander Chris Sale faced live hitters for the first time in more than a year, throwing 15 pitches during a batting practice session. He’ll throw another one next week.
SAVE THAT BALL
Red Sox catcher Connor Wong lined a single to right field in the second inning in his first major league at-bat. Saturday was Wong’s second big league game and first start.
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